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Hajj stampede killed THREE TIMES the number of deaths reported by Saudi Arabia

A stampede during the hajj in Saudi Arabia in September killed at least 2,411 pilgrims, according to a new count, some three times the number of deaths acknowledge by the kingdom.

Figures compiled by the Associated Press established that the crush at Mina was the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage.

Saudi Arabia rebuffed criticism from its regional rival Iran and efforts by other countries to join a probe into the deaths. Although King Salman ordered an investigation into the tragedy almost immediately, few details have been made public since.

Wow the world would be a better place if 2 billion Islamic instead of 2 thousand would trample themselves to death Self extinction through limbic override

Zaba

1.2 billion and shrinking

Zaba

One a day is all we ask!

Drunk_by_Noon

Remember, you heard it here first within 72-hours of the stampede. It seemed the Iranian and Lebanese papers had the best info on this event.

Clausewitz

They should make this a year round event, or at the very least a theme park.

Dana Garcia

What a religion. Imagine if the major high point in your religion’s special event routinely resulted in the deaths of hundreds…

Even so, they keep coming.

Kathy Prendergast

Other than the regular stampedes and accidents like the crane accident that also killed hundreds in Mecca this year, just a few weeks before the stampede, considering the climate I would imagine many people during Haj also drop from heat stroke, dehydration, etc., esp. the elderly. What a f***ing hell on earth that place must be.

Those were innocent people. Why is it good news that they died horribly?

Exile1981

Actually its good news that the truth is finally out there.

UCSPanther

The only reason that House Saud owned up was their rivals, the Ayatollahs put pressure on them.

Control of Medina and Mecca is one penultimate goal of any Caliphate. He who controls Mecca controls the spirit of the Islamic World (or so they say). As such, it is a major source of rivalry in the Islamic world.

The Ottomans made a bee-line for it when they gained enough strength to challenge the Mamluk Caliphate, and Ibn Saud made it one of his first targets in his war of conquest on the Arabian peninsula. I imagine that other Caliphates like the Saffavids (Who controlled Persia) would have loved nothing more than to raise their flag over Mecca.

Zaba

In the koran, the only innocent people are some muzlims. You do not know this?

Mecca sounds like a pretty chaotic place during the Hajj. I imagine that crowd surges are geometrically worse than even some of the worst Black Friday surges that I have heard of to date. Never get between a huge crowd of pilgrims and the Kaaba…

I have also heard that real estate near the Kaaba is very hotly contested and sought after, so much to the point where the old stonework is overshadowed by penthouses and other ultra-modern structures.

John

The Saudis over the past 20 years or so have bulldozed any and all sites with historical interest or importance. The new construction is utterly tasteless.